Ron Hart: Can we afford the Affordable Care Act?

"Obamacare takes effect in less than eight months. Do you realize what this means? If you go to the emergency room now, you'll be covered by the time you finally see a doctor."

– Stephen Colbert

If Obamacare is such a great idea, why does Congress want out?

Politico reports that, after allowing politically connected friends of the Democratic Party, like unions, to opt out of this awful law, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, are slithering around in the shadows, trying to exempt themselves and staffers.

If we have to suffer under the ironically named Affordable Care Act (which is causing health insurance premiums to skyrocket), then so should they. Sadly, the best favor bestowed on a political friend is not having to live under rules created by Democrats.

As deadlines are missed, and cost estimates rise, even Democrats are trying to distance themselves from Obamacare. It might get so bad that Obama will instruct his media to start calling it "Bushcare."

For context, Democrats crafted this awkward bill when they owned the House, Senate and presidency in 2009. The bill was so bad that they even had to pay off members of their own party to vote for it; remember the "Cornhusker Kickback" and the "Louisiana Purchase"? Democrats viewed Obamacare as the magic elixir for what ails our country. The rest of us viewed it as a suppository.

Unencumbered by the truth, Nancy Pelosi famously told us about the 2,400- page, secretive bill, "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it." So much for transparency

Obamacare violated the very foundation of our Constitution, so most assumed the courts would strike it down – and most sane judges did. Then, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts shocked the country by voting to uphold it. But to be fair to him, we men generally make bad choices when we are in a robe.

If the president can now force you to buy health care at prices he determines, then Michelle Obama can make you eat Brussels sprouts at prices she sets.

Did we really have a problem with health care? We had the best health care system in the world, annually costing the average family only $2,853 out-of-pocket after employer-paid insurance. Hospitals took care of, for free, those without insurance who showed up at emergency rooms, in essence, charging the rest of us more to pay for the indigent. The IRS estimates, reported Newsmax, that the "least-expensive health insurance plan available to a family in 2016 would cost $20,000 annually."

To recap just how "affordable" the Affordable Care Act would be, compare an estimated $20,000 per year versus your cost of $2,853 when your employer negotiated your coverage.

A McKinsey & Co. report said that, under Obamacare, 30 percent of employers will stop providing health insurance to workers by 2014.

Obamacare's price tag does not include $1.1 trillion in federal costs, paperwork, regulations, fraud, etc. Add up to 30 million uninsured to the health care system, with no new doctors created, and imagine the long waits and deterioration of care.

One of the more egregious deceits of Obamacare is that it front-loaded the goodies: Kids up to age 26 and preexisting conditions would be covered. Costs and regulations were pushed to the back end. Obamacare is like a flimsy hospital gown: you seem to be covered upfront, but you're very exposed from the rear.

Forbes estimates that 10 percent of doctors will leave the system for "concierge" medicine. The remaining doctors will be spread so thin, and government will be so involved, that, if you ask for a second opinion in 2016, your doctor will leave the room and come back in again to offer it.

If you think this will not invite even more moochers to come here illegally to bask in our largesse, you are smoking dope. I can see the Democrats' voter registration recruitment slogan: "Come for the Free Health Care and Stay for the Welfare."

States, mostly in the South, hoping to win this ideological battle are fighting Obamacare and choosing to opt out of some of its provisions. We Southerners value our self-reliance, values and traditions. We never give up a fight. Keep in mind, we still do Civil War reenactments – for a war we lost.

Ron Hart, a libertarian syndicated op-ed humorist, award-winning author and TV/radio commentator, can be reached at Ron@RonaldHart.com or visit www.RonaldHart.com.

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